Baby arrives - now what? We all spend
time planning and preparing the nursery and for the birth-day - and we may forget
that there life after the big day, and that your new normal is going to include
caring for a newborn child.

What can you do to prepare for the best
postpartum possible? The mom who
can rest and feels capable in feeding and caring for her baby is less likely to
experience postpartum depression.
Avoiding birth trauma, mental anguish and physical distress are factors
that lead to a more positive postpartum experience.

Today’s post will talk about the things you
can do during labor, birth and breastfeeding to set yourself up for a positive mental and
physical experience. On Friday I will
share some practical tips for making the transition to life after baby a little
smoother.

1. Have
a birth experience that you are happy with.

The start to a
healthy postpartum period is to have a birth experience you feel good
about. Positive mental health is always
a plus! Begin by choosing a care provider and a birth setting that
support the birth you and your coach want for your baby. If you cannot physically, mentally and/or emotionally
relax in your birthplace, you will end up with more interventions and a less
than optimal birth experience.

You may also need to be flexible. In each of our three hospital births, we prepared
for natural, intervention-free births. Each birth, we reached times when we had to
deviate from our birth plan. Although
our births weren’t “perfect”, we felt proud of our births because we made
choices together, and we felt confident about the decisions we made along the
path of labor. The teamwork we learned
and the information we gained as students of The Bradley Method® helped us to
achieve what we wanted: epidural-free births for our children.

2. Do your best to
avoid pain medication during labor.

Did you know
that a laboring woman produces 40 times the endorphins found in a non-laboring
person, and that these endorphins help you cope with the sensations of labor? The surge of endorphins makes the sensations
of labor manageable with the support of a loving coach. They also help you fall in love and bond with
your baby (and your Coach) when the work of labor is over.
It is a bona-fide love fest!

Further, did
you know that those endorphins are not produced when pain medication inhibits
the pain-response cycle? This can cause
a harder recovery if or when the epidural wears off: the discomfort would seem
much more intense without the endorphins to help you enjoy your accomplishment.

Avoiding pain medication also ensures that
the natural processes remain as intact as possible: you and your baby work
together during and after labor. Your
pain-medication free baby is a more responsive baby. You can tune-in to your baby and your body
and use this knowledge for adjusting labor positions. Effective use of labor positions might speed
up your labor. At the very least, you
can ensure that you are doing what your baby needs you to do so that they
arrive safely into the world.

The biofeedback
mechanism built into immediate nursing can also help you avoid the Pitocin (a
labor augmentation drug) that is standard procedure after labor to shrink the
uterus. A pain-medication free baby will
nurse readily, helping your body to expel the placenta by continuing to
stimulate the production of oxytocin to contract and shrink the uterus. We were always able to negotiate to “wait and
see” if the Pitocin bolus needed to be administered after the baby was born. Since all of our babies nursed readily, it
was never necessary – one more area in which we were able to safely say “no
thanks”.

Speaking of
Pitocin…this is purely anecdotal: we had
two labors augmented by Pitocin when we “failed to progress”, and two labors without
it. The postpartum emotional
rollercoaster was much more pronounced when Pitocin was used during labor – more
tears, depression and moments of anger. We
had much calmer and happier postpartum periods when Pitocin didn’t mix into our
birth story.

3. Prepare ahead of
time to avoid an episiotomy or tearing.

All pregnant
moms reach the point when it hits you – this baby is coming out, one way or
another. Even with our fourth baby, I
had this “oh my…” moment. The good news
is that babies know where they need to get out – and the majority of them don’t
grow larger than the vessel they grow in can handle.

Good nutrition
with plenty of Vitamin C and healthy fats and oils will help your muscles to
stay healthy and flexible. Your perineum
is a muscle – and it follows that a healthy and flexible perineum can stretch
around the head that has to pass through it.

You can also
practice perineal massage – ask your care provider what they suggest. Some encourage you to practice stretching the
perineum as you approach your estimated due date, some will have you do nothing
since they massage your perineum as the baby is crowning to ease the passage of
the head. Some care providers will want
you to practice and they will do a
perineal massage during the pushing phase.
The point is that between good nutrition and perineal massage, you can
avoid tearing or an episiotomy altogether.

4. Breathe your
baby out.

Another way to
avoid tearing or an episiotomy is to tune-in during the pushing phase of
labor. Wait until you have an undeniable
urge to push to start pushing. If you
are asked to push and you could take it or leave it, you are not ready to
push. You are only wasting your energy
and possibly stressing out your baby and your body. Believe me when I say you will know – the
only thing you will want to focus on is getting the baby out of your body!

Your
contractions tend to space out in frequency again during the pushing phase. Use this time to recover your energy by
practicing relaxation and doing your deep abdominal breathing.

~ When it is time to push, push only to the point of
comfort. Ease your baby out and the skin
stretches comfortably; if you push too hard or too fast, you can tear from the
extra stress on the skin.

~ Do not hold your breath any prescribed amount. Hold it only as long as your body wants to –
the last thing you want to do is deprive your baby of oxygen when they are
already constricted by the tight squeeze.

5. There is pain
after labor is over and you are holding your baby.

The three major sources of pain are contractions (!), the perineal
area, and breasts. Side note: If you have a fever after labor, it's time to call your doctor. Do not ignore any redness or swelling or pain that is accompanied by a fever. Dizziness and fainting are also indicators of something more serious. This is not the time to "tough it out". If you end up in the hospital it will compromise your ability to take care of your baby and breastfeed.

CONTRACTIONS

This was the
most surprising to me. I wasn’t told
that you keep experiencing uncomfortable contractions every time you nurse, and
well after labor is over. The discomfort
during nursing lasted anywhere from 3 to 7 days in my experience. Since your body makes oxytocin every time you
nurse, you will feel the contractions until your uterus has shrunk down to its
approximate pre-pregnancy size. They are
the most uncomfortable in the two days after labor; they get less and less
noticeable with time. You can use a
heating pad to dissipate the pain during and after nursing. My placenta pills helped ease the discomfort my
last postpartum period – they made a big difference.

PERINEAL AREA

If you have an
episiotomy, it may feel like the pain is worse than labor because it is
hurting, “ouchy” pain that persists, versus the productive pain that helps you
meet your baby and then stops. Between
the trauma of the cut and the stitching for repair, the skin swells and the
receptor nerves are screaming at you. It
is likely you will want to take something to ease the pain.

A tear that
needs to be repaired with stitches may also be uncomfortable. There is a direct relationship between the
number of stitches you need and the amount of pain you feel.

I never saw the
sense in having a pain-med free birth only to introduce drugs when the baby was
nursing. There are things you can do to cope
with the pain and keep from introducing drugs to the baby through your breast
milk.

~ Use cold compress on your perineum to numb the pain: you
can make one by cutting open a newborn diaper and stuffing it with ice, or you
can buy perineal compresses.

~ Use healing herbs in the peri-bottle: Did you know that
even without a tear, wiping after you use the toilet is a no? A peri-bottle is used to rinse the vaginal
area after eliminating when you have a vaginal birth. We learned about the herbs from our
midwives. Considering that hospital
births tend to be more traumatic on the perineum, it’s hard to believe that our
homebirth was the first time we used them.
Again, BIG difference in recovery time – I felt better within 24 hours!

~ Do a sitz bath: You can sit on an inflatable donut
pillow in the bathtub, or you can use a basin designed to sit in your
toilet. Salty, warm water helps to heal
the perineal area and the warmth will feel good, too.

BREASTS

There is a
learning curve in each breastfeeding relationship. The biggest one is probably going to happen
with your first breastfed baby. Your
nipples have to be “broken in” with the first baby – it takes a little
time. And although there is discomfort
as your breasts swell (engorge) when your milk comes in, nursing should not
hurt. Many breastfeeding stories include
pain, and although pain is common, it is not normal. If you are having pain when your baby latches
on, when baby is nursing, or both, get help!
La Leche League leaders, a certified breastfeeding counselor, or an
IBCLC certified lactation consultant can help you identify the issue(s) and
teach you how to nurse comfortably.

The first three
weeks after birth are critical in establishing your milk supply, and
effectively, the rest of your breastfeeding relationship. If you get off to a good start, you and your
baby can have a nursing relationship until you have a mutual weaning. If you have a less favorable start, you will
affect your milk supply, which then dictates the length of the breastfeeding
relationship and possibly include the use of formula.

You get what you
pay for when it comes to help – LLL is knowledgeable, albeit free, peer-to-peer
help. A certified breastfeeding
counselor has taken at least one professional class to receive their
certification. An IBCLC lactation
consultant has the most professional training and experience from which to
draw.

Spend the money
you need spend in order to have the breastfeeding relationship you want. Some
things, such as latching, are easily remedied with the help of a LLL
leader. Other things require professional help. Among all the things on which you can spend
money during the postpartum period, getting help in order to give your baby the
best food possible falls high on many priority lists.

Preparing yourself before your baby arrives with knowledge,
good nutrition, and exercise for strength and stamina will help you have fewer
interventions during labor and hopefully avoid birth trauma. A positive birth experience, being well rested and feeling
competent in feeding baby is part of the equation for a happy new mother. Check in again on Friday to read helpful tips
about transitioning from pregnancy to new family.

Disclaimer:

The
material included on this site is for informational purposes only.
It is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical
advice. The reader should always consult her or his healthcare provider to
determine the appropriateness of the information for their own situation. This blog contains information about our classes available in
Chandler, AZ and Payson, AZ and is not the official website of The Bradley
Method®. The views contained on this blog do not
necessarily reflect those of The Bradley Method® or the American Academy of
Husband-Coached Childbirth®.